If they really mean it.   From the remarks of Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal S. Wolin at Georgetown University yesterday: 

As we write new rules, we will consult with a broad range of groups and individuals.  And as we seek their input, the American people will be able to see who is at the table.  Draft rules will be published.  Everyone will be able to comment.  And those comments will be publicly available.  Treasury will disclose the topics of meetings on Dodd-Frank implementation and the names of the attendees.

From the story: 

The hearing, which will include public testimony on the impact on consumers, will be from 2 to 4 p.m. at Shiloh Baptist Church, 237 East Fifth Street, in Lexington. Another hearing is scheduled for Nov. 9 in Newport.

Funded by payday advance fees.   From the story: 

A new state fund will help launch more programs that teach children how to handle money.

Gov. Markell says $200,000 from the Financial Literacy Education Fund is available to schools, community and non-profit organizations to improve the financial well-being of Delawareans.

The funding comes from a fee charged to payday loan and other businesses that make short-term consumer loans.

The Helena Independent seems to believe in it.

Not likely in my opinion, but here’s thoughts from Reuters: 

WHAT COULD STOP A FULL REPUBLICAN ROLLBACK?

Even if voters decide next month to send more Republicans to Congress, Obama is not going anywhere and his veto would likely block any comprehensive attempt to gut the law.

Plus, the same procedural roadblocks that Republicans have made standard practice over the past two years in the Senate would be available to Democrats if they were in the minority.

“Repeal of Dodd-Frank is unlikely,” concluded Capital Alpha Partners, a policy analysis firm, in a report last Tuesday.

Two researchers who have previously studied payday lending are studying microfinance.  From the story: 

The thing is, no one ever really asked poor people if business loans were the most important financial product they were missing. That’s now starting to change, thanks in part to a recent wave of academic research. As it turns out, poor people lead complicated financial lives and they need money for all sorts of things.

Thursday I was at this conference, where Dean Karlan of Yale talked about research he’s been doing with Jonathan Zinman of Dartmouth. In interviews with microfinance recipients in the Philippines, the pair discovered that some 46% of borrowers used a decent chunk of their business loan to pay down other debt and about 28% spent part of the money on a big household purchase—even though fewer than 4% of people in either category ever admitted this to their bank. (Disclosure: I was at this conference because I am now doing work for the Financial Access Initiative, which co-sponsored the event.)

This sort of finding—which quantifies what many practitioners have long suspected was the case—is having an impact on how microfinanciers go about their business. “We’re an industry built on assumptions, and we’ve gotten to a point where we have to test those,” said Carlos Danel, a co-founder of the Mexican microfinance behemoth Banco Compartamos. ”Research is showing us that we actually don’t know a lot about the customers we serve.” That’s why Compartamos is conducting a 4-year study with Karlan and other researchers to find out how customers use microfinance products, and how those products do—or don’t—change their lives.

From the story: 

Many lenders say a 36% cap on short-term, deferred deposit loans will put them out of business. Voters won’t decide the issue until November 2, but some stores in Missoula have already closed.

Former owner of Golden Title, Eric Steingruber, closed the doors to his payday lending business on the corner of Brooks and Stephens Avenue this summer. He blames the end of his store on I-164. He believes the measure will pass and said there was no way he could continue lend money with a 36% interest rate cap.

Steingruber isn’t alone. At least two other payday loan businesses in the same area have closed in the last six months. Many stores are still open, but another lender said some are cutting back on loans.

Regarding my watching and report on Elizabeth Warren’s appearance on “The View.”:

You should be getting hazard pay for watching that mess.

President Obama certainly isn’t referring to us.  From the story:

In his weekly address, President Obama said the coming financial reform will defend the interests of the middle class, as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will guard against unfair practices in mortgages and foreclosures.

He said one goal of the reform package is to “rein in secret deals and reckless gambling that nearly brought down the financial system.”

“We’re also seeing the reverberations of this crisis with the rise in foreclosures,” President Obama said. “And recently, we’ve seen problems in foreclosure proceedings – mistakes that have led to disruptions in the housing markets. This is only one more piece of evidence as to why Wall Street Reform is so necessary.”

It should be no surprise to anyone that the Center for Responsible Lending is knee deep in the Montana ballot initiative.